Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Monopoly money

Ken Rosenthal, everybody's favorite bow-tie-wearing baseball reporter, writes for FoxSports.com that when John Moores sells the Padres, which could be soon, he'll get $600 million plus a big chunk of Fox Sports San Diego's money. The $600 million pricetag should be familiar to readers of This Blog. When Moores first tried to persuade Jeff Moorad to buy the team four years ago, he asked for $600 million, but Moorad talked him down by $70 million to $120 million. Here's that story. The sale of the Padres has taken many twists and turns. The one constant is this: Moores looks like the clearcut winner. This is the Padres we're talking about, right? For $600 million plus $200 million in TV money? If the checks don't bounce, the Texas tycoon's grin should stretch from El Paso to Corpus Christi, where Moores grew up.

2 comments:

One thing that confuses me is how much is cash and how much is assumed debt. Another is whether Moores actually took $200 million from the TV deal. I assume the $600 million is the cash and with assumed debt the price is above $800 million. Others have been touting that $800 million without a breakdown of it.

The part I REALLY can't understand is how MLB would let Moores walk away with $200 million, when it refused to let Moorad do the same, stating that the TV money should stay with the club. Recouping that with a higher price seems to be what Moores is doing, not taking cash out. Will we ever know?